I love Mythbusters, but... yikes!

[Eric DeSilva]

I've always been a big fan of Mythbusters. But this video shows me why you should never let anyone use your shop when you aren't there--even intelligent people. I don't consider myself a safety boyscout, but there's some hair-raising stuff here:

http://www.tested.com/art/makers/461862-tested-projects-building-custom-computer-desk-part-1/

[Wade Lippman]

I used to like them, but saw one episode where they faked repelling. (their gear went right over knots without a problem). And heck, if they fake that, they might be faking anything.

[Rick Potter]

These are professionals. That must be the way to do it.

RP

[Matt Day]

I stopped watching the video about half way through, but wowza! I'm surprised he didn't get some violent kickback or loose a finger. I'm surprised Mythbusters put their name on this video (sort of).

Speaking of which, the guy hosting is neither Jamie nor Adam. I wonder what connection MB's has to the video series and the host?

[Eric DeSilva]

The video is from "Tested," which is some side project. As far as I can tell, Tested is the brainchild of Will (the guy in the video) and some other guy, but is "sponsored" somehow by Adam and Jamie--personally, not Mythbusters. Will did a lot of the interviews of Adam's "one day builds," which were sort of interesting. It is Adam's home shop.

[Tai Fu]

That dado cut with the tablesaw scares me... the pieces look wobbly, wouldn't it be safer to do it with that crosscutting jig he used earlier rather than the fence? That looks like a kickback waiting to happen.

[Peter Kelly]

Ugh, started feeling queasy about 1/2 way through that. Not good.

[Chris Padilla]

Pretty amusing to those of us who know a little bit more about what we are doing but I'm glad no one got hurt! I like how he was talking about a planer and M&T joinery and was using plywood.

[Victor Robinson]

oh goodness me....

[Dave Zellers]

I'm trying to figure out why someone with so little knowledge would think he should make a video about his lack of knowledge.

My favorite line: "The internet says..."

The other mystery is why Jamie Hyneman would allow his name and reputation to be linked to this.

[Duane Meadows]

"Yikes" about says it all!:rolleyes:

[Keith Hankins]

"Yikes" about says it all!:rolleyes:

My words exactly. "I'm not a woodworker but I play one on TV" :)

[Doug Garson]

Wow, someone needs to take these guys aside and explain to them just how dangerous what they did was and how irresponsible it is to put this on YouTube for others to follow. I've seen a lot of woodworking videos on the web with varying degrees of woodworking skills. Sometimes I say wow this guy is incredibly good other times I wonder why the guy thought it was worth posting. This time I say wow these guys should be ashamed of themselves for posting such crap and possibly having someone think they are demonstrating proper woodworking techniques which they might follow and hurt themselves. Unfortunately some people will assume that if its posted on YouTube it must be the right way to do it. Any lawyers out there want to comment on the liability issue of demonstrating such dangerous techniques and implying they are acceptable woodworking practice?

[John McClanahan]

[QUOTE=Dave Zellers;

The other mystery is why Jamie Hyneman would allow his name and reputation to be linked to this.[/QUOTE]

Or Adam Savage.


John

[Brian Holcombe]

Wow, unnerving to watch that guy work.

[Earl Rumans]

Another table saw statistic waiting to happen. I can't believe he would make a video that shows such terrible safety procedures. I hope some new woodworker doesn't watch this and then try to do things the same way.

[Howard Acheson]

From what I see on their site, there is only an implied connection to Mythbusters.

[Wade Lippman]

You people are too harsh. He admits he has never used a router before and only knows what he read on the internet (SMC?!); I think he did pretty good considering.
And he admits that his results were only fair because he was using a tablesaw; if he was building it for some else he would have used a planer. I know I do better work with a planer than with a tablesaw.

The really scary thing is that he says he started with the wood first because that was in his comfort zone. Next week he will do the welding. Can you imagine what he does when outside of his comfort zone.

I am sure the second half was also good, but I couldn't watch it.

[Brian Kerley]

From what I see on their site, there is only an implied connection to Mythbusters.

It's not connected to Mythbusters, but is connected to Jamie and Adam.

Adam almost always does a weekly discussion with these guys. They also go into Adam's shops a lot to watch Adam work on various projects. Jamie is involved to a much lesser degree.

Hopefully Adam takes him aside and gives him more lessons in how to use the tools in his shop before his friend loses a finger.

[Paul Hingco]

Why does he keep saying he would have gotten much better results if he had used a planer. ie At the 4:45 mark

[Mark Walden]

The first clue was the tape measure. Where did he get that? It looks like it came from my wife's junk drawer. I have never considered Mythbusters to be woodworkers, but to endorse this, shows how little they know about woodworking. I have watched the show in the past, some things were cool [blow stuff up] some were kind of dumb. But I have never seen anything like this on the show. Complete disaster. On a different show, American Restoration [back when they showed us how they built and repaired things] one of their guys was cutting notch in a 2x4 free hand on the table saw. Just like this guy did, my first thought was you just put this on TV. How stupid are you? When the guy shows up at the hospital with his fingers gone, he can say I saw it done that way on TV.

[rudy de haas]

I like the show too, but

I'm a math/physics guy - most of what mythbusters claim is science is bunk and most of their conclusions are either obvious from the
git go or nonsense. However, they're entertainers and watching them blow up things is entertaining.

[Rod Sheridan]

I've always been a big fan of Mythbusters. But this video shows me why you should never let anyone use your shop when you aren't there--even intelligent people. I don't consider myself a safety boyscout, but there's some hair-raising stuff here:

http://www.tested.com/art/makers/461862-tested-projects-building-custom-computer-desk-part-1/

Amazing what you can learn from a video. I didn't know that the planer was the better choice for breaking down sheets of plywood than a table saw.

Of course I also was under the impression that a guard and riving knife were used on a table saw as well.

So much to learn I had better go back to Youtube............Rod.

[Bill White]

Hey! If it came from the internet it must be the right way to do stuff. Yeah! Right!
Just goes to show ya that some people shouldn't be allowed in the shop.
Bill

[Mark W Pugh]

What a waste of air time!!!

[Mort Stevens]

You people are too harsh.

I agree. You have to start somewhere. My first "tablesaw" was a circular saw bolted to the bottom of a piece of plywood a 1x4 held with c-clamps for a fence. For a router "table' I turned the router upside down and held it in a vise. I know many of you will frown on these practices, but they worked and allowed me to see the possibilities of what can be accomplished and to build some skills and confidence to eventually buy the correct machines.

[Mort Stevens]

The first clue was the tape measure. Where did he get that? It looks like it came from my wife's junk drawer.

Makes little difference, as long as you use the same tape measure throughout the entire project it's accuracy has no affect. I once switched tape measures in the middle of a project and learned my lesson!

[Chris Padilla]

Makes little difference, as long as you use the same tape measure throughout the entire project it's accuracy has no affect. I once switched tape measures in the middle of a project and learned my lesson!

Real woodworkers don't use measuring tapes! ;) hahaha

[Bob Cooper]

I too thought everyone was too harsh until I saw the router cuts which really was scary. He's got a nice tablesaw...just needs someone to spend some time reviewing a few basic things before he builds stuff. I'm actually wondering if this is his Equiptment. How did that router table in the tablesaw get there. I don't think he did that.

[Earl Rumans]

It's Jamie's shop, he was just using the tools, obviously without any training at all.

[Peter Quinn]

I stopped watching when he raised that router bit up 3/4" and started pushing plywood in, then stood a piece up to route sideways.....veneer flying, tear out everywhere......danger Will Robinson. I am going to try planing some plywood at work today though, not sure how that will help, but who doesn't want more square cuts? If the planer will do that for me I'm in. In trouble.

[Michael Kellough]

I stopped watching too but mostly because it's boring to listen to a novice yammer about stuff he knows little about.

For some perspective here is a professional doing something much more dangerous.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDUprNyYlfM)

[Pat Barry]

This wasn't Mythbusters thats for sure.

[Scott Stafford]

This guy is still my favorite!

I didn't know a shaper was so versatile. I wonder what other tricks and shortcuts I could learn from him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJGmwyYK8k


Scott in Montana

[Doug Garson]

This guy is still my favorite!

I didn't know a shaper was so versatile. I wonder what other tricks and shortcuts I could learn from him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJGmwyYK8k


Scott in Montana

I think there is a big difference between the two. On the one hand you have what is probably a highly experienced and skilled woodworker using the tools available to him to make a living probably in a country where workplace safety regulations are much different than the US or Canada. I'll bet he has been doing this for years and while I agree it is a dangerous method he probably understands what he is doing.

On the other hand you have a clown who is working in a well equipped shop but doesn't bother to educate himself on what the proper methods are to use the tools available to him. If you look at the comments on the YouTube site you'll see a mix of experienced (some professional) woodworkers criticizing his complete lack of concern for safety and others who I suspect have no woodworking experience congratulating him on a great video and commenting that it inspires them to get into woodworking. The last thing the woodworking community needs is a bunch of newbies inspired by someone demonstrating how not to do it safely and thinking he is showing them the correct way to do it.

[Peter Quinn]

This guy is still my favorite!

I didn't know a shaper was so versatile. I wonder what other tricks and shortcuts I could learn from him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJGmwyYK8k


Scott in Montana

Every time I watch that again I want to get his address and mail him a bandsaw, but he probably wouldn't use it. Its probably not drastically more dangerous than resawing on a TS, and I've done that begrudgingly, but it sure looks hairy. Bright side he's probably using a very soft wood for tops, like cedar for flamenco guitars. Trying to imagine how that goes with the tone wood? I know a few guys at work that are nervous about the BS, they consider it dangerous, but they regularly rip narrow stock down to maybe 1 1/4" with just hands, way closer to the blade than I'd ever get. Different strokes. I really like the shipwright above with the skill saw blade on the mini grinder. He adds a pretty strong caveat about the dangers involved and not recommending the technique to others. Good old Yankee ingenuity getting it done. The guy in the original video sort of admits on several occasions that he doesn't really know what he's doing, but at other times seems to present himself as an expert? With technique like that I'd be more inclined to hide in a dark hole and not advertise my incompetence to the world, what exactly is the point of that video? Still scratching head. Perhaps its to bust the myth that anybody with a few tools can safely make things from wood? A good working title might be "How to effectively reduce your finger population in the short run".

[Pat Barry]

Every time I watch that again I want to get his address and mail him a bandsaw, but he probably wouldn't use it. Its probably not drastically more dangerous than resawing on a TS, and I've done that begrudgingly, but it sure looks hairy. Bright side he's probably using a very soft wood for tops, like cedar for flamenco guitars. Trying to imagine how that goes with the tone wood? I know a few guys at work that are nervous about the BS, they consider it dangerous, but they regularly rip narrow stock down to maybe 1 1/4" with just hands, way closer to the blade than I'd ever get. Different strokes. I really like the shipwright above with the skill saw blade on the mini grinder. He adds a pretty strong caveat about the dangers involved and not recommending the technique to others. Good old Yankee ingenuity getting it done. The guy in the original video sort of admits on several occasions that he doesn't really know what he's doing, but at other times seems to present himself as an expert? With technique like that I'd be more inclined to hide in a dark hole and not advertise my incompetence to the world, what exactly is the point of that video? Still scratching head. Perhaps its to bust the myth that anybody with a few tools can safely make things from wood? A good working title might be "How to effectively reduce your finger population in the short run".
He has a bandsaw. He used it to test making the notches and to fine tune them

[Tim Morton]

Did he really say he was happy with it only taking 2 hours to break down the sheet of plywood, and he was happy it came out square since he was only using a table saw and not a planer?

[Michael Kellough]

He started to lose me when the layout app on his tablet showed grain direction 90 degrees off from the way he was ripping the ply.